San Diego Regional Center (SDRC) serves San Diego and Imperial counties — one of California’s 21 regional centers operating under the Lanterman Act WIC §4500, free to your family at any income. Unlike most centers, SDRC routes intake by your child’s age, not by where you live: under 3 goes to Early Start intake, 3 and older to standard intake, each with its own phone number and email address. For age 3 and up you can also start with an online initial contact form.
Is San Diego Regional Center mine?
If you live in San Diego county or Imperial county, yes — those two counties are SDRC’s whole territory, and no other center covers them. Everything north and east of that belongs to someone else: Riverside and San Bernardino to Inland Regional Center, Orange county to the Regional Center of Orange County.
Two counties is a tidy sentence that hides a lot of desert. Imperial county sits about two hours east of the coast, over the mountains, and it is the part of SDRC’s territory where “just come in” costs a family the most. SDRC does run an office in El Centro — if you are in Imperial county, ask for that office by name rather than accepting an appointment in San Diego.
Not sure which center is yours? →How does intake start here — and what makes SDRC different?
Age decides your door. For a child under 3, you contact SDRC’s Early Start intake team. For a child 3 or older, you contact standard intake — or submit SDRC’s online Initial Contact Form, which is offered in several languages. Intake then reviews what you sent and contacts you to schedule the interview.
Both routes are on one page, with the current numbers and email addresses:
San Diego Regional Center — Apply →Two things worth doing on that page. First, use the form if you cannot take a daytime call — a submission at 10pm starts the same legal clock a phone call does, and it leaves you a timestamp. Second, note the language options. A form completed in the language you actually think in produces a better description of your child than one you translate on the fly.
SDRC also has more offices than DDS’s listing shows. The state directory lists the Ruffin Road headquarters; the center’s own contact page lists offices across the county and in Imperial Valley:
| Area | Office city |
|---|---|
| Central | San Diego (Ruffin Road — headquarters) |
| North County | San Marcos |
| North Inland | San Diego (Avenue of Science) |
| East County | La Mesa |
| South Bay | National City |
| South Inland | Chula Vista |
| Imperial Valley | El Centro |
What is SDRC on the clock for?
15 working days from your request to initial intake WIC §4642. 120 days from intake to a completed assessment — 60 days where delay would risk your child’s health, safety, or development WIC §4643. Under 3: 45 days from referral for the Early Start evaluation and assessment 17 CCR §52086. Then 60 days from the completed assessment to the written plan WIC §4646.
These are statewide clocks, and they run from the date you asked, not the date a file was opened. Write that date down the moment you call or submit the form. It is the single most useful thing in your folder later.
What should I have ready?
Bring what exists, not what you wish existed. A diagnosis is helpful and not required to start — SDRC does its own assessments at no cost to you.
- Any evaluation you already have: developmental, speech, occupational therapy, psychological
- Pediatrician notes, referrals, or screening results
- Preschool, daycare, or school records; an IEP or IFSP if there is one
- Your written description of a hard day, with specifics: how many words, how many hours of sleep, how many people it takes to manage a bath
For a child 3 or older, eligibility turns on a “substantial disability” — significant functional limits in 3 or more of 7 life areas WIC §4512. For a child under 5, there is a second route worth naming out loud: provisional eligibility, which needs significant limits in at least 2 of those areas instead of 3 WIC §4512. If a worker says your 3-year-old is close but not there, ask whether provisional eligibility was considered.
The drive to San Diego is not a detail — it is a workday, gas, and a child in a car seat over a mountain pass. You are allowed to say that. Ask for the El Centro office, ask whether the intake interview can happen by phone or video, and ask it before the first appointment is set, not after you have already made the drive once.
What if San Diego Regional Center says no?
A denial must arrive as a written Notice of Action. A “we don’t fund that” over the phone is not a decision and starts no clock — ask for the written notice. From it you have 60 days to request a hearing WIC §4710.5. Read the dates printed on your own notice and calendar them the day it lands.
You can get free help. The Office of Clients’ Rights Advocacy (OCRA), part of Disability Rights California, provides advocates who handle regional center appeals statewide, including San Diego and Imperial counties.
How to appeal a Regional Center denial →You picked the right door for your child’s age, dated the request, and know what a real decision has to look like. That is the part most families learn the slow way.